CVE-2020-36722

Visual Composer <= 26.0 - Multiple Cross-Site Scripting

2020-05-18 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 27.0
Affected Plugin: Visual Composer Website Builder
Affected Version: <= 26.0
CVSS: 5.5Medium
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2020-36722

View all Visual Composer Website Builder vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2020-36722 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Visual Composer Website Builder WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 26.0. It carries a CVSS score of 5.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 27.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2020, reported by Jerome Bruandet.

Vulnerability Overview

The Visual Composer plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Scripting in versions up to, and including, 26.0 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts that execute in a victim's browser.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no interaction from a victim user.

CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Reaching this weakness in Visual Composer Website Builder <= 26.0 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site scripting happens when input from a request is written into a page without being escaped for the context it lands in, so the browser parses attacker-supplied text as markup or script.

Injected script runs with the privileges of whoever views the affected page, which is how these flaws turn into administrator session theft, silent account creation or persistent backdoors in page content. For Visual Composer Website Builder the fix is 27.0: builds <= 26.0 are affected, anything from 27.0 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 27.0, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Visual Composer Website Builder: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Visual Composer Website Builder 27.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-36722 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/c476d9af-9060-4294-874a-86e550253d3b https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-36722

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in Visual Composer Website Builder

CVSS Vector

5.5

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredHigh
User InteractionNone
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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